Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Camping, Lessons Learned

Figure in a half day to set up and another half day to tear down. (Maybe under 3 hours, if you're good at it.)

Ideal camping trip is three or four nights. Rodrigo says three nights.

Have an extra sleeping bag or quilt handy in case it gets cold in the middle of the night.

You really need to find your swiss army knife before the next time.

Don't forget pillows.

Rain entertainment should also be packed. (According to Zoe.)

The more stuff, the more to sort through to find what you need, the more delay in getting anywhere.

Having one bag for one category of stuff was useful. E.g. the "medicine cabinet" bag, the non-cooler food bag, etc. Do this with the rest of the items, so you won't lose the bottle opener again. (also see, swiss army knife.)

Food lessons:

The Coleman forks that screwed together to be very long were great for hot dogs. I could cook five hot dogs at a time by holding them in the flames of a wood fire. No waiting for coals.

Don't use the Coleman forks for marshmallows. They stick terribly. Bring disposable wooden skewers for the marshmallows.

One packet of hot dogs was enough for one night. And next time remember lettuce.

Bring fruit. Apples, oranges, grapes--all were good.

The propane burner did come in handy. So next time bring something in which to boil water for tea, and some tea.

Freeze a carton or two of lemonade and put them in the cooler to defrost and drink. That would be more useful than the blocks of melted arsenic-contaminated tap water.

Food takes up a lot of room. Pack enough for the first night cookout and some stuff to nibble on for breakfast. After the first night, eat out. Or go grocery shopping while there.